Keyword Harvester Rule: A Step-by-Step Guide to Discovering High-Impact Search Terms

Estimated reading: 4 minutes

If you’re running Amazon ads, you know that keywords can make or break your performance. The right ones put your products in front of ready-to-buy customers.

The wrong ones? They eat into your budget with little to show for it.

That’s where the Keyword Harvester rule comes in. It’s an automated workflow that scans your existing ASIN-targeted campaigns to uncover high-performing search terms based on real performance data.

Once identified, these keywords can be automatically added to your manual campaigns, while optionally being marked negative in the source to avoid duplication and wasted spend.

It’s a smarter, data-driven way to scale what’s already working, no guesswork, no manual digging.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to set up and run a Keyword Harvester Workflow from start to finish.

Step 1: Go to Automation → Workflows

Start by navigating to the Automation section of your advertising dashboard and selecting Workflows.

This is where all your automated ad processes are managed.

Step 2: Select “Keyword Harvester”

From the list of automation templates, choose Keyword Harvester. This workflow will help you extract high-performing search terms from your current campaigns and transform them into new, precisely targeted keyword strategies.

Step 3: Name the Workflow & Select Advertised Products

Name Your Workflow: Choose a clear and descriptive name to identify the purpose (e.g., “Top Search Terms – Q2 Harvest”).
Select Products: Choose the actively advertised ASINs that will be the focus for this keyword harvesting effort. These are the products for which the system will discover new keyword opportunities.

Step 4: Set Campaign Targeting Type

Select the Targeting Type that applies to the campaigns where your selected ASINs are being advertised:

Manual Targeting – If you’ve already defined the keywords in your campaigns.
Automatic Targeting – If Amazon’s algorithm determines keyword placements.

Choose Advertised Campaigns

Pick the campaigns to analyze. These campaigns must include your selected ASINs and have performance data from the last 30 days.

Mark Negative in Source

You can choose to add the harvested search terms as negatives in the original campaigns. This prevents keyword duplication and avoids internal competition (cannibalization). These are added as Negative Exact match types.

Step 5: Set Analysis Duration

Define the timeframe you want to analyze—usually the last 7, 14, or 30 days. This determines which search terms will be evaluated for harvesting based on recent performance.

Step 6: Define Harvesting Conditions

Set the performance thresholds that a search term must meet to qualify for harvesting. These filters ensure you’re only collecting keywords that are already proving their value.

Common conditions include:

Orders – Minimum number of purchases generated.
ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sales) – Maximum acceptable spend efficiency.
Sales – Minimum revenue generated.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) – Minimum efficiency threshold.
CPC (Cost Per Click) – Maximum allowed cost per click.

Only search terms that meet all selected performance conditions will be harvested.

Step 7: Choose a Destination Campaign & Match Type

Next, select the destination campaign where the harvested keywords will be added. Only manual campaigns with keyword targeting will be shown.

Choose Match Type:

You can choose how broadly you want the new keywords to match:

Exact Match – Targets the specific search term with high precision.
Phrase Match – Allows for additional words before or after the keyword.
Broad Match – Captures variations, related searches, and loosely connected terms.

Optional: Adjust Bids

You can also set or adjust bids for each keyword at this step, allowing you to optimize cost control and ad rank from the start.

Step 8: Exclude Specific Words or Phrases

Enter any words or phrases that, if included in a search term, should prevent it from being harvested. This is helpful to filter out irrelevant or brand-sensitive terms.

Step 9: Set Harvesting Frequency

Choose how often this workflow should run:

Daily
Weekly
Bi-Weekly

Setting the right frequency ensures your campaigns stay fresh and consistently benefit from new search term data.

Step 10: Review & Launch

Review all your selections, including:

Products and campaigns
Targeting type and match preferences
Conditions and exclusions
Bid settings
Frequency

Once everything looks good, click Launch Workflow.

Your Keyword Harvester is now live and will begin mining valuable search terms to fuel campaign growth.

Why Use Keyword Harvester?

Here’s what makes this tool a must-have:

Performance-Based Targeting: Only the best-performing terms are added to your strategy.
Workflow Automation: Eliminate manual keyword discovery with automated harvesting.
Smarter Budgeting: Avoid wasted spend by turning off underperformers and adding proven winners.
Scalable Growth: Continuously improve and scale your advertising without adding overhead.

Ultimately, by using the Keyword Harvester, you’re putting data at the center of your ad strategy. You’ll not only discover new opportunities but also protect your campaigns from wasted spend and inefficiency.

Ready to harvest better results? Set up your workflow today and watch your ads become smarter, sharper, and more profitable.